Participants in contact sports, or self-defense training often require protective wear to prevent or minimize injury. Helmets or protective headgear are used in various sports such as football, baseball, ice hockey, field hockey, martial arts, boxing or self-defense training. Protective headgear used in boxing and martial arts may be fabricated from a resilient foam material such as polyvinylnitrile foam, which is cut and/or molded to cover sensitive portions of the head for protection. Sections of the headgear may be perforated, or contain openings for ventilation, viewing or hearing. The foam absorbs energy from blows to the head, and is lightweight to minimize stress to the neck and shoulders during use.
Examples of padded headgear used in boxing, martial arts training or self-defense training are illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4. With respect to FIG. 1, the headgear 10 is retained on the head of a user by a chinstrap 11 that extends from one side of the headgear 10 to an opposite side. The chinstrap 11 is permanently affixed to a first side 12 and has a free end 13 that is attached to the second side 14 of the headgear 10 using known releasable fastening systems such as Velcro®. Although such a chinstrap works for purposes of retaining the headgear on the head, the headgear does not include a chin cup; therefore, the chin may be exposed to direct trauma.
The headgear 10 illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 includes a panel 15 that covers the chin for protection. The panel 15 is integrally formed and connected with the sides 16 and 17 of the headgear. A back panel 18 can be flexed to fit the headgear 10 onto the head of the user. An adjustable strap 19 tightens the back panel 18 against the head to secure the headgear 10. In as much as the chin panel 15 is integrally connected to the sides 16, the chin pad is not adjustable, and the headgear may tend to loosely fit around the chin.
Another headgear 10 is shown in FIG. 4 includes a chinstrap 11 laced through holes 12A and 14A on the sides 12 and 14 of the headgear. The chinstrap 11 includes Velcro® fasteners on free ends 11A and 11B of the strap 11, such that free ends 11A and 11B of the chinstrap 11 are laced through the apertures on the respective sides 12A and 14A of the headgear and detachably secured to the chinstrap 11 at or near the jaw or chin of a user.
However, headgear fabricated from foam materials as described above that are encased within a vinyl coating may have a tendency to slip when a user sweats. Such headgear may not pass certain testing standards adopted by the American Standards for Testing and Materials for martial arts headgear.